"Discover Islam" stickers, balloons and T-shirts will be given to the fans.

CAIRO — The World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) will launch a know-Islam campaign during the World Cup 2006 in Germany, which kicks off on June 9.

"The campaign will be championed by our Berlin branch," WAMY Cairo Director Hamdy Al-Mursi told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, June 4.

He said up to 1.5 million glossy and colorful leaflets on Islam will be printed in English and German and distributed among football fans flocking from all over the world.

"The distribution will be through leased mosque-shaped pavilions inside different stadiums," added the activist.

Mursi said "Discover Islam" stickers, balloons and T-shirts will also be given to the fans.

He noted that the campaign is organized in tandem with a number of Islamic centers and NGOs in the total of twelve cities hosting the football extravaganza after getting the green light from the German authorities.

Islam comes third in Germany after Protestant and Catholic Christianity.

There are some 3.4 million Muslims in Germany, two thirds of whom are of Turkish origin.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, the eighteenth to be contested, are scheduled to take place between 9 June and 9 July.

In June 2000, Germany won the right to host the gala, narrowly beating South Africa which will be the host of the 2010 competition.

Tolerant Islam

Mursi said the WAMY campaign will highlight tolerance in Islam, which is unfairly equated with terrorism.

"We want people to read about this much-stereotyped religion, which breaches against discrimination," he added.

"This is a golden opportunity to train Muslim youths in making use of world events to introduce our religion," said the activist.

Established in Saudi Arabia in 1972, WAMY is a non-governmental youth and student organization affiliated with the United Nations.

It has presence in 55 countries and an associate membership of over 500 youth organizations around the world.

Through its various projects, WAMY provides support structures to encourage the positive engagement and integration of the youth in their social environment.

It also aims to help assist towards diffusing social tensions, and protect Muslim youth from extremism and such trends that result in social instability.